Aminat Isah, Abuja
The South African authority has disrupted the ongoing evacuation of Nigerians willing to leave the country following the xenophobic attack on foreign nationals by denying Air Peace airline landing permit at the Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg.
The Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, on confirming when the next set of Nigerians would be airlifted from the embattled country said the airline could not take off at 1 am as planned because of the refusal of the landing permit, while efforts by the airline to get a permit from the South African authority proved abortive.
“We did not take off by 1 am as scheduled because South African authorities are yet to give us a landing permit. We are hopeful that they will give us the permit,”
He further hinted that the airline would set off for South Africa once the permit it ready.
”Our crew waited till 3:00 am but when the permit did not come, they went back to the hotel. Once we get the permit we will set off to South Africa. We don’t want to speculate but we are hopeful they will give the permit”, he said.
